Horror Movie Classics Part II

OK - Today's film will be...

The House on Haunted Hill!



Now for those of you under a certain age...do not get this confused with the 1999 remake of the same name.

In this film you have Vincent Price in top form as the millionare who offers - wait for it...a whopping $10,000 to a group of strangers to spend the night in a 'haunted house'. I'm guessing in 1959 this was a massive amount of money.

I love black and white films, and truth be told halfway through the flick I stopped looking at it as a horror movie and more as a mystery. (Which helped). It becomes pretty obvious early on that the 'haunted house' isn't really 'haunted' and it appears that Mr. Price is trying to pull something over on everyone.

There is a great part at the beginning where he and his forth wife (the first three died under bizarre circumstances) banter back and forth about how they would love to kill one another.



The party guests arrive - a chandelier falls and almost kills someone. Vince Price arrives and pours drinks for everyone, before they go on a tour of the house, visting all the places where people were murdered.

Then at one point all the party guests receive party favors in the form of small little caskets containing...GUNS!

Now as most of you know, handguns are probably the most ineffective item against evil spirits that can be thought of. However, if your intent is for everyone to run around in a panic shooting each other it's a great idea.

So Vincent Prices wife played by the very lovely Carol Ohmart is hung - people panic. All fingers point towards the evil Mr. Price.

There is a twist ending, a walking skeleton that forces Carol Ohmart into a pool of acid and Vincent Price gets the last line.



Over all that pacing was better than 'The Terror' and the plot made much more sense. In addition the whole 'paying people to spend the night in the haunted house' motif has been so overdone, but think of it this way. This is the film that started that motif, which means it must have made quite an impact at the time.

So...for Vincent Prices superb performance, the genuinely creepy scene where a female character turns around only to be confronted with a hidious old hag - teeth bared and hands like claws and the extra bonus of a PLOT! I give this film three out of five skulls.